


Denial+tissues

by Boozey_The_Ghost



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Sickfic, Sneezing, Team as Family, Worried Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 17:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16022633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boozey_The_Ghost/pseuds/Boozey_The_Ghost
Summary: Mac's got a cold, but it isn't too bad. The team has a job, but it's an easy, relaxed mission, so he decides to go anyway. He gets worse, Jack takes him home and takes care of him.So basically plotless, pointless, shameless fluff.





	Denial+tissues

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, so all mistakes are mine.  
> And definitely don't own Macgyver, sadly.  
> The characters might be really OOC, I'm sorry, I suck!  
> Sorry if this is terrible!

Mac groaned as he woke up to the sound of his alarm clock ringing, a way too loud, annoying repetitive sound.  
His head seemed to beat in time with the ringtone.  
Eyes still closed, he threw his hand over to his bedside table and felt around for his phone.  
Bringing it in front of his face, he finally cracked his eyes open, only to quickly shut them tight again from the bridgness of the screen.  
He managed to blindly shut his phone up then sat it aside before attempting again to open his eyes.  
Squinting slightly against the light, blinking the blurr away, he pushed himself up on his elbows.  
He crawled out of bed, shivering a little at the loss of warmth from his blanket, and made his way downstairs. 

Bozer was already in the kitchen working on breakfast when Mac shuffled in, eyes half closed and his hair a mess.  
"Morning!" Bozer said, way too brightly for this early in the morning.  
Mac mumbled back something that sounded like "Mrnin'..." as he heavily dropped himself into a chair next to the dining room table.  
Bozer frowned from the unusual, un-energetic behavior from Mac, but brushes it off.  
He grabbed a cup of coffee and brought it over to his friend.  
Mac had his elbows on the table, his head resting in his palms, eyes closed.  
"You okay?" Bozer said as he placed the mug in front of Mac with a gentle thud.  
Mac, startled, jerked his head up, relaxing when he saw his friend. "Yeah, just got a headache." was Mac's answer.  
Bozer gave him a suspicious look, but let it go. 

At Phoenix, Jack, Riley and Matty were already in the war room when Mac and Bozer walked in.  
"Hey guys!" Jack greeted them, followed by Riley saying hi, and Matty greeting them good morning.  
"Good morning!" Bozer answered back. Mac decided to stay quiet, not feeling like talking. His throat was feeling tight, and he still hadn't shaken his tiredness from this morning. He just sat in one of the plush chairs next to Jack.  
He noticed Jack giving him a look, but ignored it, too tired to handle Jack's mother hening this early in the day. 

"So," Matty began talking. She explained their mission, a simple surveillance op, just to collect some information for the CIA.  
Jack of course was extatic, always loving an easy surveillance op to listen to some music and relax.  
Mac was actually happy about this too. Usually he wasn't a big fan of these type of missions. Too much time with nothing to do, leaving him bored. And Mac didn't do bored well. But now that he's more awake, he's starting to notice how bad he's really feeling.  
The headache from this morning hadn't gone away after coffee like he assumed it will, and he feels chilled even though he's wearing long sleeves, and the office is always air conditioned to a comfortable temperature. And, now that he was thinking about it, there's this constant, annoying tickle in the back of his sinuses.  
Not liking the conclusion of these symptoms he discovered, he thinks an easy mission will be perfect.  
Matty was talking again, giving details on the guy they were to keep track of, but Mac was only half listening. He was busy trying to sniffle his suddenly runny nose as discreetly as possible.  
Once the debrif was over, they all went down to the lab to work on whatever project they were currently on until later when they leave for the mission, who only started once night falls. 

In the lab, Mac was at his desk tinkering with his latest gadget he was working on. Riley was busy typing at her computer, next to Bozer, who's busy with a mask he's been working on. Jack was mostly going back and forth between them all and making sure they were all well entertained.  
Mac wasn't making much progress, though. He constantly needed to sniff his nose to keep it from running, having to rub it on the sleeve of his lab coat every minute. The headache was making it hard to concentrate too.  
But it's just a little cold, he won't let something so minor stop him. If they had a field mission, of course he would have said something. He won't put his friends and possibly innocent civilians at risk by going on an important mission when he's not a hundred percent. But a mission like this, he mostly just stays in the van, looking out for suspicious activity, while Riley was recording the whole thing.  
He was pulled away from his thoughts when suddenly that annoying tickle in his nose flairs. He drops what he's been holding, a little metal part falling to the desk with a metallic sound. His nose crinkled, and he quickly raised his palms up in front of his face. He knows it's inevitable that he's going to sneeze, he's been holding them in for hours and it was just a matter of time until one was gonna escape him. So he just tries to muffle the sound as much as he can.  
"hiixtch" his body is pitched forward slightly from the force, and he stays this way while sniffling and rubbing his nose, before straightening up.  
Throwing a glance over his shoulder at his friends, he lets out a quiet sigh of relief seeing the others didn't seem to notice.  
Turning back to his work, he started fiddling with the parts and got absorbed in his work. 

Mac sturtles out of his daze when a hand pats his shoulder, relaxing again once he sees it's just Jack.  
"Come on, we're heading out." Jack said as he gave his friend another firm pat and started walking towards the door.  
Mac got up to follow quickly. Which turned out to be a bad idea, as a wave of dizziness hit him. He stumbled a little, grabbing a hold of the back of his chair, but quickly recovered and followed Jack, who was already out the door.  
In the last few hours he'd been starting to question whether he should go on this mission, He's starting to feel pretty awful. But letting something so minor stop him from doing something that's supposed to be easy feels like giving up.  
And he might just be holding up on letting his friends know he was sick for as long as possible... Mac always felt this irrational feeling of guilt whenever he got sick, and he despised getting fussed over. So the longer he can avoid that, the better. 

They had an hour long plane ride, and then a half hour of driving to get to their stakeout location.  
On the plane, Mac was finding it increasingly difficult to hide his worsening symptoms from his team.  
He had to constantly sniffle to keep his nose from running, and he went to the bathroom a couple of times just to blow his nose with no audience. He was starting to get congested, so he had to breathe through his mouth, which aggravated his sore throat and made his voice sound hours.  
He was sure everyone already knew he was sick, it was getting pretty obvious, but no one said anything yet, and he certainly wasn't going to bring it up.  
It was just a cold, he would get through this mission easily, then go home and sleep this thing off. 

Jack, Reilly and Mac were in the van and in position. Bozer was not needed on this mission, so he was back at phoenix finishing that mask that was needed by another team.  
They had eyes on their target, nothing exciting was happening, so all they needed to do was wait.  
Jack put on his music, Reilly was busy with her computer, so Mac thought no one was giving the him too much attention. He didn't notice the worried glances Jack threw at him every few minutes.

"Huh'ISshsh!" Mac was pitched forward by the sudden sneeze. He stayed bent over like that until two much more forceful sneezes ripped out of him.  
"Huh'ITchu! Huh'ITShshs!"  
With a sigh and a wet sniffle, he straightened back up. He already gave up on trying to hide his cold from his team, it had gotten impossible to hold back the sneezing and coughing.  
So now that it was out in the open, he felt more comfortable with just letting himself be sick. Lucky for him, there was a box of tissues in the glove compartment, and he could finally blow his stuffy nose without feeling the need to hide. He still felt uncomfortable, he was always shy about sneezing in front of others, or showing any signs of sickness really.  
But he was definitely more comfortable than before.  
At least, mentally he was. Physically, he was pretty damn uncomfortable. His nose was so stuffed up he couldn't breathe though it at all, his throat felt like it was on fire, and just breathing made him cough. He was also shivering a little, probably getting a fever.  
"hii.. Hee.. He'xtchhh!" he sneezed into the bunch of tissues clutched in his hands.  
"Bless you. How you holin' up?" Jack questioned.  
Mac started to give his usual response, but was cut off by his breath hitching.  
"I'm f... Fhiii... heXTCHE!... Ugh, I'b fide." he finished lamely.  
"Oh yeah, that was convincing." Jack used the most sarcastic voice he could master.  
Mac sniffled and blew his nose before answering. "it's just a cold, I'm fine."  
Jack's face showed a mix of amusement, exasperation, and worry, but he didn't press further.

Mac leaned his head on the window, the cool glass feeling good against his overly warm skin.  
He was shivering. Jack had already turned the heat on, even though he and Reilly must be boiling hot. But he just couldn't seem to stop.  
Finally, Jack declared they have all the info they need and they could head back to the private airport they landed in.  
Mac had a suspicion that part of the decision was made due to Jack worrying about him, but he wasn't going to complain.

In the plane back, Mac was curled in on himself, laying on a bench seat with Jack's leather jacket draped over him as a blanket. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't sleeping. His cheeks were flushed, his nose a matching shade of pink. He then stirred as his breath began to hitch. His nose scrunched up as he cupped his hands in front of his face. "he.. Huu.. Hextchuu! Hitchee! Atchu!" he sneezed wetly, and blindly reached for the Kleenex box on the floor next to him, that was surrounded by another dozen or so crumpled up tissues. Bringing the fresh bunch to his face, he nestled his nose into them and blew wetly.  
Jack was watching the spectacle from his seat next to Reilly and let out a sigh.  
"He got worse so fast..." Reilly whispered to him, sounding truly surprised.  
"Yep, that's how it always goes with this one. He doesn't do things half way." Reilly let out a laugh at that. "No, he definitely does not." she shook her head a little. 

The plane finally landed, and Jack woke his ill friend by gently shaking his shoulder. "Hey, Mac? We're here buddy, c'mon" he pried him awake.  
Mac cracked his eyes open. "Jack?" he mumbled sleepily and started to push himself up to a seating position.  
"We just landed. Come on, let's get you home."  
Mac just hummed in agreement, still half asleep, as he let Jack guide him.

Mac doesn't remember much after that. Just some blurry images of Jack, helping him in to his car, unlocking the front door for him, putting him to bed... 

Mac wakes up slowly. His head is pounding, his nose sore and stuffy, throat feeling like he ate gravel for breakfast, and he just feels overall awful.  
He quiet literally rolled out of bed, standing on shaky legs.  
He's still wearing yesterday's clothes, so he searched his clothset for his warmest sweatpants and an old, worn MIT hoodie that's two sizes too big for him (even back then it was only used as pajamas) and makes his way downstairs.

The house is quiet, and by looking out the window it looks like its pretty late into the morning, so Mac guest Bozer left for work.  
So he's a bit startled when, just as he's about to collapse on the couch, a voice from the kitchen called his name.  
He turned around with a small gasp, but relaxed as he saw Jack's face.  
"Hey, whad are you doig here?" Mac cringed at his own voice, and tried to clear his throat.  
"Well we won't be going on any more missions for a few days and I don't have much to do at Phoenix when we don't have a case, so I thought I'd keep you company." Jack smirked his signature smile.  
Mac walked over and sat on a bar stool next to Jack, who was driving coffee.  
"So how you feelin'?" Jack questioned, going for nonchalant.  
Jack hears him sniffle, then a moment later Mac suddenly seats up straight and turns away from Jack as much as he can.  
"huuu... HEXChu! eeTCHOO!" he snaped forward into his cupped hands, bending at the waist nearly in half from the force of the harsh sneezes.  
His nose is running now, but all he can do is snuffle, too exhausted to move.  
Then Jack silently leaves the kitchen, coming back a minute later with his arms full.  
He placed a brand new tissue box in front of his friend, which Mac immediately dug into.  
While Mac was busy with his nose, Jack wrapped the fluffy, navy blue blanket in his arms around Mac's shoulders.  
Mac rolled his eyes, but didn't protest.  
Finally Jack places a bottle of flu meds on the counter, and goes to grab some water and Mac's tea.  
Mac eyes the bottle of syrup in front of him with displease. It's the kind that tastes awful and makes him feel drowsy.  
He snapped out of his thoughts when Jack placed a steaming mug right in front of him with a gentle thud.  
Mac immediately wrapped his hands around the mug, grateful for the warmth it provided.

It took some convincing, but Jack finally had Mac dosed on all the meds he needed, including the gross syrup.  
Now Mac was half sitting half laying on the couch, huddled in his blanket, all of him hidden away under it other then his face and one arm, that had the tips of his fingers peeking out of the too long gray sleeve and clutching a tissue.  
The TV was on, a random movie playing, and Mac was trying to watch it. But his eyes were dropping, dangerously close to closing. He tried fighting it, but after the third time he jerked awake from his head falling limply towards his chest, he gave up.  
Fully laying down now, he hugged the blanket closer, the soft fabric pressed to his cheek, and let himself drift off to sleep. 

The day went by, mostly just filled of Mac moving from the couch to his bed, Jack fussing over him, trying to fill his every whim.  
When the rest of the team finishes at work- they of course all came over to check on their friend- they found Jack asleep in an armchair with the TV on mute, Mac deep asleep on the couch next to him, borrowed under his bundle of blankets and pillows.  
The coffee table and the floor surrounding it was covered with used tissues, half empty water and juice glasses, and various medicine bottles.  
They tried being quiet as to not wake either of them, but Jack was a light sleeper, and he jerked awake at their sound.  
"Sorry..." Riley whispered.  
Jack, brushing sleep from his eyes, got up and waved her off with a 'no big deal' expression.  
"So... How's Mac doing?" Bozer asked in a hushed voice, not really waiting for an answer and just walking closer to get a better look at his friend.

Mac was curled up on his side, blanket pulled up to his chin. His face was flushed with fever, nose rubbed raw and red, and dark circles under his eyes, making him look exhausted even while sleeping.  
"Damn..." Bozer said softly.  
Jack went over, taking his first look at Mac since he fell asleep, and frowned.  
"Damn it, his fever spiked when I was out." he growled, angry at himself for ever falling asleep in the first place.  
He kneeled next to Mac, grabbed his shoulder and shook it gently.  
"Mac? Wake up buddy"  
"Hmm?.." Max's eyes fluttered open , and he looked around, confused for a second, before waking up fully and seeing Jack's face in front of him.  
"Hey, man, how you feelin'?" Bozer sounded worried and Mac didn't understand why.  
"M'fine, s'just a cold..." Mac mumbled, trying to reassure his friend and failing.  
Jack put the back of his hand to Max's forehead, and Mac closed his eyes at the cool touch against his hot skin.  
"Not will that fever it ain't." he signed.  
Mac was confused, not understanding why all his friends looked so worried, but not liking it one bit.  
So he started to push himself up, so he could do something about it. He didn't really know what... But improvising was his job, so he just focused on getting to his feet first.  
But that was harder than it usually was. His arms were shaking, not able to support his weight when he tried to lean on them. He flopped back into the cushions behind him, slightly out of breath.  
He looked back at his friends, and was displeased when he saw he only made them look more worried than before.  
Then Jack got up and left.  
No. He wanted Jack to stay. Was he leaving because of something Mac did? He must be, no one else did anything...  
"No..." Mac's voice was barely a croak. He reached his shaking arm out, grabbing a handful of the fabric of Jack's jeans.  
But Jack tried to keep walking.  
Mac didn't let go.  
"m'sorry..." he whispered, tugging on the pants.  
That seemed to work, because Jack kneeled again in front of him, and Mac changed his grip to Jack's T-shirt sleeve instead.  
Running his hand through Mac's messy blonde hair, he asked gently: "What are you apologizing for, Mac?"  
Mac frowned. He didn't know what he was apologizing for... So he just settled on saying "Don't go..." Again, only a weak whisper came out, and made him cough.  
But Jack was smiling now, an amused looking smile, and he gave a laugh.  
"Don't worry, bud, I'm just going to get you some more medicine, okay?"  
Mac hesitantly let go of Jack, though he didn't want to.  
But Jack was back in a minute, holding a glass of water and a bottle of pills.  
"Can you sit up for me, kid?"  
Mac tried, but his arms still felt too shaky to hold him up. But then a pair of strong yet gentle hands held his shoulders, supporting most of his weight as they pushed him to sitting.  
The movement made Mac a little dizzy, so he clenched his eyes shut for a few seconds until the feeling passed. When he opened them again, there were a couple of white pills handed to him, along with a glass of water.  
He took them without question, and drank half the glass of cool water, which felt good against his throat.  
Those same strong hands were guiding him to lay back down now, and he gratefully let them. He was so tired, all he wanted was to lay down and close his eyes. And that's what he did, and he was asleep in seconds.

The infuriating itch in Mac's nose was what woke him up the next morning.  
He barely opened his eyes before they were shut tight again. "Huhh...haa-AITCH-SHuuu! aITCHe!"  
He snuffled thickly, and sighed. He was awake for less then a minute and he was already exhausted.  
The noise must've gotten the attention of his friends, because suddenly Bozer and Jack were walking into the living room.  
"Hi Mac! You're looking better, how are you feeling?" Bozer sounded relieved and cheerful.  
"That's bedder?" asked Mac with a stuffy voice, sounding incredulous.  
Jack gave a laugh, but it sounded kind of bitter. "Definitely better."  
Mac frowned, He didn't remember much for last night.  
But he didn't get much time to ponder on that, because once again he was overtaken by a harsh sneezing fit.  
He quickly grabbed a handful of tissues from his box, burring his nose in them as his breath hitches.  
"hiihh! huhh! HEtchew! T'SHU! Hhepsho!"  
While busy cleaning himself, Jack sat down next to him on the couch and Bozer left for the kitchen.  
Jack just silently turned on the TV, starting to flip through channels to find a good movie they could all enjoy.  
Bozer came back with a tray with three steaming mugs on it, two of coffee, and one with homemade chicken noodle soup.  
He handed each his respective mug and sat down on the other side of Mac to watch the movie.  
"Dod't you have work?" Mac asked, the question directed to both of them, but mostly at Bozer.  
"Matty have us all a day off." Jack answered without taking his eyes off the screen.  
"Oh! And Riley asked if she could come over later?" Bozer asked.  
"Sure" Mac said with a small grin. 

Mac was warm, sipping his soup, surrounded by his friends.  
He grind bigger.  
Maybe being sick is not as awful as he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed, I'm sorry if you didn't, and I'd be grateful for any comment! (as long as it's not mean, please) 
> 
> Thank you for reading ♡


End file.
